Swatara Township restaurant owner feeds the unemployed

About a month ago, John Pham started giving Pho (a sliced meat and noodle soup dish) for one penny to anyone who lost their job in this economy. He says he wants to give back to the community. Pham is the owner of Vietnamese restaurant Ninh Kieu on Parkview Lane in Swatara Township.

The United States welcomed John Pham in 1979 when he was a child and had moved from Vietnam to make a new life. Now Pham, owner of Ninh Kieu restaurant in Swatara Township, wants to return the favor.

"This country has been good to me," said Pham, 40. "Now the economy here is bad. Unemployment is up. I want to give something back to my country and community." That something is a bowl of Vietnamese soup, offered for one penny to those who have lost their job in the current economy. The beef noodle, shrimp or chicken pho (Vietnamese name for soup) is served to the unemployed all day Wednesday and from 9 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday.

Pham said he doesn't require proof of a lost job because, "I trust people."
Pham, who became an American citizen in 1985, knows what it means to be down on luck. After moving to the United States from Vietnam, he spent two years learning English. He eventually headed to Virginia Technical Institute, where he became an electrical engineer.

This self-made man worked as a general contractor, doing everything from carpentry to drywall installation to plumbing. Later he opened a nail salon and then a Vietnamese restaurant. Along the way, he faithfully sent money to his parents in Vietnam, rejoicing when they came to the United States in 1997.

"When I moved to Harrisburg, I saw that the restaurant here was closed," he said. "So I rented it and opened my restaurant."